Catching a Super
by Songshards
Summary: With all they're going through right now – dealing with Real Shield and the ongoing search for Skye – it seems incredible that Phil Coulson would take the time to go after a possible 'super', but he does. Here's why.
1. Chapter 1 Catching a Super

Catching a Super

The banging on the barricaded door intensified as a loud crack indicated it would be moments before the barrier was breached.

"You're hurt. I can fix that," Director Phil Coulson said, his voice as cool and calm as if they were on a leisurely walk in the country, rather than in a hot hell-hole in Nam Tam with the local drug lord's thugs trying to break in. "Come with me now. Once they break the door down I can't help you."

The boy continued to desperately rummage through the satchel that hung precariously around his neck, blood dripping down the leg of his raggedy jeans from the wound on his side. All the time he kept one eye on Coulson.

"Please... don't come any closer." He said through gritted teeth as he pulled out a not-so-clean-looking roll of duct tape.

"You're in a tight spot," Coulson continued calmly, coaxingly. "I can help you. I've got people on the roof. They can get us to safety. Trust me."

The boy ripped a piece of tape off and stuck it on the wound on his side. He held a bloody hand out as Coulson took a step closer to him.

"Don't," he said. "Please don't."

"My name is Phil Coulson. I'm an agent of Shield and you can trust me." The boy wasn't convinced. "Your father is Hank Rayon," Coulson said. "Your mother was Rita Skein. She was an agent of Shield," Coulson said, trying hard to read an answer in the boy's face. "Three weeks ago there was an incident. Someone set off a terrigen bomb in this village. Were you exposed to it? Did it change you?"

The boy backed away from Coulson, his eyes wide and afraid.

"If it changed you, you'll be feeling disoriented. Afraid. Alone." Coulson said taking tiny steps towards the boy, careful to keep his body relaxed and open. "Trust me. I can help you. I'll work with you. We'll figure out how to help you take control of your power."

The boy shook wet hair out of his eyes. Sweat glistened on his forehead and upper lip.

"Are you afraid you'll hurt me?" Coulson asked.

"You're the one with the gun," the boy said zipping his satchel shut.

There was a mighty crash at the door and he started, leaping a few steps back so that he stood precariously at the edge of the floor. The side wall of the building had disintegrated long ago. Behind him was a dizzying drop – four stories down.

"Easy," Coulson said. "I'm going to put down my gun." He unclipped his holster, but the boy shook his head.

"You want me to trust you," he said. "Then let me go. And the next time we meet, I promise, I will talk to you."

For a moment he was distracted by the noise at the door. Coulson took a big step forward, reaching for the boy's elbow but he wasn't quick enough. The boy stepped out over the edge, grabbed a rusty iron chain that hung down from the roof and slid down it to the ground.

Coulson rushed to the edge and looked down. He was just in time to see the boy limp out of sight behind a line of shanties in the densely populated streets below.

"I wasn't expecting that," Coulson said to Agent Hunter who was now balancing on the rickety beams above him.

"We have to move now, Boss." Hunter said as the door splintered and men with guns came bursting in. He threw Coulson a rope and hung on to it himself as the invisible quinjet lifted them off the building and out over the sea.

Back on the Bus Agent Fitz showed them the route the boy had taken on the thermo-imaging satellite view of the area.

"He ran this way – straight into the heart of the village. We lost him in the crowds – here," he said, pointing to a mass of moving dots of light. "Must be market day? Do we go after him?"

"No," Coulson said regretfully. "The situation is too volatile right now and we need to get back to base."

"Do you think he's a threat?" May asked Coulson.

"Hard to say," Coulson said frowning at the glowing dots on the screen. "He didn't make any threats. He certainly didn't make a move to hurt me. He didn't even try to defend himself. But it could just be because he doesn't yet control his power – whatever it is."

"Or that he doesn't have a super power," said Agent Simmons. "Sliding down the chain like that – he must have hurt his hands. If we could get his DNA..."

"He had a gunshot wound on his side," Coulson said, reaching into his jacket pocket and pulling out a white cloth soaked in bright red blood. "I swabbed some of his blood off the floor before we left."

"Is that a handkerchief?" Fitz asked incredulously. "You carry a handkerchief with you?"

Coulson looked perplexed. "You don't?" he asked. "Let's get back to base," he told May without waiting for a response from Fitz.

Three weeks later the team was flying over Omaha looking at grainy traffic footage from the day before.

"It's definitely him," Fitz said, pulling up an enhanced still shot and blowing it up. "But how did he get to Omaha from Nam Tam?"

"Perhaps he can fly?" Simmons suggested, peering at the image of the boy over Fitz's shoulder. "His blood work was off the charts – just like Skye's. He was definitely affected by the terrigen bomb."

"Then why didn't he fly away when we cornered him? Or teleport – if that's his super power." Hunter asked.

Coulson shook his head. "I don't think it has anything to do with movement. I don't really think he is a threat..."

"But we need to make sure." May's voice was icy over the intercom.

Coulson nodded – almost reluctantly it seemed. "Yes, we need to make sure. And he did promise to speak to me if I let him go."

"Well, you tried to stop him," Hunter pointed out. "Does that count?"

A red light blinked on a corner of the screen and Fitz pulled it centre screen. "Are you seeing this?" he asked incredulously. "This is real time traffic-cam footage."

"That's Mac!" Hunter exclaimed. "If Mac's there Bobbi can't be far away."

"What are they doing in Omaha? Could they be on to the boy?" Simmons asked.

"Fitz, try and find the boy," Coulson said. "May..."

"We need to be on the ground now." May said from the cockpit, initiating the plane's descent.

On the ground Mac is at a coffee shop sipping a large coffee and pretending to read a book. Hunter slides into the seat in front of him.

"Come on Mac, you don't read," he says, "So what are you really doing here? Waiting for Bobbi?"

"Hunter." It's not clear if Mac is surprised or not. He looks around. "Are you with Coulson?"

"I asked first." Hunter is deliberately belligerent. "Why are you here, Mac?"

"We can play this game all day, but you know and I know that you're just the decoy. Coulson's where the real action is – isn't he?"

"And you and I both know that you're the decoy. Bobbi's where the real action is."

"I'm flattered. Hello Lance," Bobbi says sliding in beside Hunter.

"Bloody..." Hunter is clearly surprised now.

"Hunter, wait," Bobbi says stilling Hunter. "I just want to talk."

"Oh, now you want to talk?" Hunter banters, regaining his composure quickly. "Sorry Love. The time for talking is long past."

"Fine. No talking. You're here for Jack Walthar. We have him. So why don't you ask Coulson to come out of hiding?"

"Who's Jack Walthar?" Hunter asks.

Bobbi signals the woman behind the counter and two agents appear with the boy between them. They sit the boy down two tables away. The boy looks warily around him. The waitress goes to take their order but one of the agents waves her away.

Bobbi smiles at Hunter. "That's Jack Walthar," Bobbi purrs. "We've tested him. He is a super but he isn't a threat. He has accelerated healing powers against cuts and bruises but not diseases – which is great for him but isn't really of any use to anyone else."

"He isn't any use to you, you mean," Hunter says. "So why not just let him go with me? I'll take him to Coulson. You said he's not a threat."

"No, but children exposed to terrigenesis have a history of being unstable. We'll need to keep him under observation to make sure he's safe. So how about it?" Bobbi asks, her voice steely. "You've got Coulson in your ear. Tell him he can come and talk to the boy."

"You've got to be joking," Hunter said. "We were investigating the boy, sure, but Coulson isn't going to..." He trailed off as Coulson walked in the door of the coffee shop. Mac and the two other agents get to their feet.

"I'm here," Coulson says palms open and arms outstretched – but he's looking at the boy, not Bobbi or Mac. Two other agents cut off his retreat. "I'm just going to put down my gun... And then we can talk." He slowly unclasps his holster and takes the gun out with his forefinger and thumb.

"This is what I mean, Lance," Bobbi tells Hunter quietly. "Coulson keeps secrets. You don't know how important the boy is to him did you?"

"No," Hunter says. "But I trust him to tell me what I need to know," Hunter says sliding under the table just as Coulson tosses the gun down. Made to look like a 9mm pistol it is actually a Howling Commando's incendiary device that emits a blinding white light and fills the air with a high humming sound that vibrates eardrums for up to two minutes. Enough time for Hunter and Coulson to leave the coffee shop with Jack Walthar while Bobbi and her team are left temporarily blind and deaf.

In an alley around the corner are two bikes. May roars up on a third.

"We don't have much time," she says. "They're regrouping fast."

"Go," Coulson nods to her and May rides off.

Hunter straddles one of the other bikes and roars off in the opposite direction.

But Jack Walthar stops and shakes off Coulson's hand on his arm.

"If you're feeling disoriented..." Coulson begins but stops when he realises the boy is fine.

"Am I your prisoner now?" Jack asks, his eyes resentful and untrusting.

"No," Coulson said. "You're free to go. But you promised to talk to me the next time we met and that's all I'm asking for. A talk. Just not here." He holds out a helmet and jacket to the boy.

As Jack considers his options Coulson pushes on, strapping on his own helmet. "I knew your mother, Jack. She was a Shield Agent. A good one. And a friend. I can tell you all about it but here isn't the place. Any minute now the people from that coffee shop are going to..."

Jack makes up his mind. He puts on the jacket and helmet and climbs on behind Coulson. They ride off.

"May and Hunter are going to lead the others away from us," Coulson calls out as they speed over a narrow road between what look like large sheds or warehouses.

"Who are the others?" Jack asks.

"Hard to explain right now," Coulson says. "Misguided is the short explanation."

He guides the bike down to a small rivulet and pushes it out of sight behind some rotting planks of wood, throwing their helmets into some convenient bushes.

"May should be here to pick us up soon," Coulson said.

Back on the Bus Fitz and Simmons are in communication with May and Hunter. Hunter is in a speedboat with May. May steers. She does not look happy.

"What did Bobbi mean – you didn't know how important the boy was to Coulson?" Simmons asked.

"Yeah, how is he important?" Fitz asked.

"No idea," Hunter said curtly over the sound of the engine's roar. "When he wants us to know, I guess he'll tell us."

"We maintain radio silence until we've got Coulson and the boy on board," May snapped.

"Oh yeah, sorry," Fitz said.

"Sorry," Simmons said – whispering "Oops" to Fitz.

"It's a silly precaution," Fitz whispers back indicating the panel of instruments in front of him. "I'd know at once if anyone was eavesdropping."

Coulson and Jack lean against the railing of a rickety old pier.

"So you've got the power to heal?" Coulson says. He sits in a relaxed open posture as opposed to Jack whose arms are crossed and fists clenched. He doesn't answer Coulson.

"Your mother was my friend, Jack," Coulson says. "I knew her as Rita Skein. I am guessing that isn't the name you knew her by?"

Jack shook his head slowly, but his shoulders relax a little.

"But she told you that was her real name?" Coulson guessed. Jack nodded. Coulson hands Jack an envelope. "This was from your mother's file," he says.

Jack is startled. He opens it with shaking hands. Inside is a picture of a young woman. He stares at the picture for a long time while Coulson talks.

"Rita was on assignment with two other agents who were exposed to a terrigen bomb – like the one you were exposed to," Coulson said. "One of them died – he was human. The other wasn't but he couldn't immediately adjust to the change. He became mentally unstable and tried to kill your mother. He had super-human strength..."

"He was my father." The boy said wearily.

"Yes, he was," Coulson said. "At the time you were five and at home. Your parents had kept you a secret from the agency because they wanted to keep working together in the field and that wouldn't have been allowed. Your father was a good man, Jack. The terrigenesis changed him."

The boy kept silent.

"Your mother managed to get away and take you into hiding. By the time he got control of his powers you and your mother had disappeared. But he never stopped searching did he?"

"No," Jack said gazing unseeingly across the waterscape in front of him.

"Two years ago your mother reached out to me. She told me she was dying. She made me promise to keep you safe. By then we had been able to piece together what had happened. We had tried to find your father but we were unsuccessful. He rarely breaks cover so we think he must have mastered his power."

Coulson stopped. "Are we right to assume that?" he asked quietly.

"His power, yes," Jack said tersely.

"But six months later Rita stopped contacting me. I had no way of knowing where you were. I only had a picture of you and a name."

"Her cancer was aggressive," Jack said, staring down at the photograph in his hands. "She got very sick very fast. She told me all this. Until then I had no idea that she was a secret agent. But she wanted me to know the truth. She told me to keep moving. To keep a low profile and use different names."

Jack looked up at last his eyes wet.

"But it's not easy..." He stopped, his voice breaking. "My father found me almost immediately."

"He is a trained field agent, Jack." Coulson's voice was calm and soothing. "Finding people is his speciality."

"In the beginning he was so thrilled to have found me. And I remembered him from before the change. I thought maybe it wouldn't be so bad. But he couldn't control his anger."

"He hurt you?" Coulson asked.

"He didn't mean to. And he was angry at how easily I got hurt when he lost his temper. So he locked me up with food and water and disappeared for a few weeks. The food ran out. I was barely conscious when he turned up. He said everything was going to be all right."

"You were in Nam Tam then?" Coulson asked. "And he had the terrigen bomb."

"He said it would make me strong like him. I was too weak to understand what he was saying. And then suddenly I was all right."

"You didn't feel disoriented? Ill?" Coulson asked in some surprise.

Jack considered this and shook his head slowly. "I felt better than I'd ever felt before. He told me that was because I was super human now.

"He pushed me in front of the iron door and asked me to hit it as hard as I could. I was too scared of getting hurt. I hit it lightly and he got mad. He rammed the door with his fist and it bent and buckled. He asked me to hit it in the same way. I was terrified of him. So I punched it with all my might.

"And I broke my wrist – I could feel the bones breaking. My hand was all bloody. And my father went crazy. He started punching and kicking me. He kept yelling at me to hit him back but I couldn't. I was in too much pain. I thought I was going to die..." Jack trailed off.

"But you didn't," Coulson prompted gently. "How did you escape?"

Jack shook his head. "I don't know whether I dreamt it. I wasn't fully conscious," he said. "We were in a locked room but suddenly there was a man there. He just appeared."

"A man with no eyes?" Coulson asked, leaning forward with interest.

The boy's eyes widened. "So he is real?"

Coulson shrugged. "He appears to be. We've encountered him a few times but we don't know who he is or where he goes to."

"He bent over me and he shook his head like he was sorry," Jack went on. "My father was yelling at him. But every time he tried to hit the man, the man disappeared and appeared somewhere else – just out of reach."

Coulson was nodding now.

"Then he grabbed my father and they both disappeared. They left me for dead but I didn't die. I got better. In a matter of minutes I think. There was space to wriggle out through the broken door so I got out."

"Why did you stay on?" Coulson asked.

"I don't know," Jack said ruefully. "Part of me wanted to run away as far as I could but I didn't speak the language. I didn't know anyone except my father's friend who was a barber. I was friends with his son. I told my friend what happened to me. He promised to keep my secret and I hid in their barn.

"Then, one day, my friend told me some men in suits – Americans – had come to the village. They were asking about my father and me. They had promised a lot of money for us. I had to lay low. I didn't know it then but they were the people you saw at the coffee shop.

"The next week some bad men from the village came and beat up my friend's father. They killed him because of me. And my friend told them where I was hiding. I ran. They were chasing me when I met you.

"I'm sorry about your friend," Coulson said.

"It was my fault he lost his father," Jack said with an edge of despair in his voice. "A man died because of me."

"That wasn't your fault..." Coulson said gently but Jack kept going.

"My mother said I should look out for a man called Phil Coulson. But she didn't have a picture of you and the men who were after me were Americans in suits – like you. I didn't know if I could trust you."

Jack broke off as the hum of an engine could be heard over the water.

"Is that your friend?" he asked Coulson.

"Stay out of sight for a minute," Coulson said. "May? Do you read?"

There was only silence.

"Stay hidden," Phil said over his shoulder, his eyes on the boat. "This doesn't look good..."

A burst of gunfire from behind takes him by surprise. He dives for cover, firing back.

"That way," Coulson steers Jack through an alley. They duck into an open doorway and run through a warehouse chased by Gonzales' 'Real' Shield agents.

"The sewers," Jack points at a manhole cover. He grabs a wooden broomstick and prices the lid up while Coulson fires back.

"Come on," Jack calls out urgently.

They climb into the manhole and put the lid back just in time. 'Real' Shield agents run swiftly past the manhole. Beneath their feet Coulson is slumped against a grimy wall, his hand pressing against his chest.

"Are you hurt?" Jack whispers.

A burst of gunfire can be heard from above. At the same time Simmons voice can be heard in Coulson's ear.

"They were jamming our transmission. Sir, are you all right? Are you there? Can you hear me?"

Coulson brings his hand out. It is covered in blood. He stifles a laugh.

"I have an eerie sense of de ja vu," he says.

"Oh thank God you're all right," Simmons says. "May and Hunter are securing the area. As far as we can tell this is just a small mobile group of 'Real' Shield. Just give them a few minutes. Sir, do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear," Coulson says but his voice is faint. "Listen Jack," he continues painfully but with great urgency. "May and Hunter are good agents. They will keep you safe. You can trust them."

Jack's face looks pale in the darkness.

Above ground May and Hunter take down the 'Real' Shield agents with the greatest efficiency. When they are sure the area is secured May contacts Fitz and Simmons.

"Where is Coulson?" she asks.

"They appear to be under ground to your left... I mean right." Fritz says.

"Here!" Hunter spots the manhole. He lifts the cover and they look down on Coulson and Jack. Both are covered in blood.

"Coulson!" May leaps down. Hunter stays at the mouth of the hole on guard.

"I'm fine May," Coulson says. He is pushing his hand against the boy's chest. Blood keeps seeping through his fingers.

"You're hurt!" There is panic in May's voice at the site of his bloody shirt with the gaping hole.

"I'm fine," Coulson sounds dazed. He pulls open the hole in his shirt to reveal smooth skin underneath.

The boy is gasping for breath. But each gasp is shallower than the last and each time his chest heaves less blood oozes from between Coulson's fingers.

"Sir? May? Reinforcements are arriving. You've got to get out of there." Simmons tries to keep her voice even.

"Follow the sewer line. I can guide you to the river where the boat is," Fitz said.

"Let's go. I'll carry the boy," May said.

Hunter shut the manhole lid and helped Coulson to his feet. "Are you all right boss?" He asked.

Coulson nodded but it is clear he is still weak. Hunter supports him and they hurry after May.

"Left. I mean right. Right again," Fitz gives them directions.

"Be very quiet now." Simmons can see a team of agents above them.

Finally they get to an iron grating that is half submerged in the water. Hunter props Coulson against a wall and detonates the gate.

"We're going to have to swim for it," May says looking across at Coulson.

"I can do it," he says straightening up.

"Me too," the boy says. May sets him down. He smiles at her. But she doesn't smile back.

They swim to the boat. May opens the throttle and the boat swings away from the bank.

Back on the Bus Coulson and Jack are being checked out by Simmons. The team stands around them.

"So you don't just regenerate?" Simmons asked. "You can heal others?"

"Do Bobbi and the others know that?" Hunter asked.

"No, I didn't tell them," Jack said.

"If you had they wouldn't have been so ready to use you as a pawn," Hunter said.

"They said all the people with super powers are weapons," Jack said. "Is that true?"

"They have the potential to be used as weapons," Coulson said. "But you – and if there are others like you – would be equally important in a war."

"I'd be the on-site medic?" Jack asked.

Coulson grinned. "Yes, you'd be pretty important."

"How did you figure out that you could heal others?" Simmons asked.

"Some bad men killed my friend's father and they almost killed him too," Jack said. "I didn't want him to die. I wished as hard as I could that it was me who was hurt and not him. And then I got his wounds. And he was fine. And then I healed too."

"So you didn't lose a friend then," Coulson smiled at him.

"I did," the boy said soberly. "He called me a freak and said he would kill me if he ever saw me again. I guess he's right. I am a freak."

"No you're not, Jack," Coulson said. "You're special. We had a team member who changed like you. I made the mistake of treating her with mistrust - dangerous until proven otherwise. I won't make the same mistake with you."

"Phil," May said in a dangerous voice.

"Agent Simmons here will test you and you will be under observation. But you'll be here with us until you're cleared." Coulson looked at May. She turned and strode off.

"I'll talk to her," Simmons said, getting up to follow May out.

"It's all right," Coulson said. "I'll go."

"You've lost a lot of blood, Sir," Simmons said, "Even though your wounds have healed. You're still weak..."

"I'll be careful," Coulson smiled.

Coulson slid into the co-pilot's seat. May didn't look at him. They sat in silence until May couldn't stand it anymore.

"Are you just going to sit there?" she asks irritably.

"Doctor's orders," Phil says lightly looking out across an expanse of blue sky and pinky-orange clouds. "I need plenty of R&amp;R and you really can't beat this view."

May rolls her eyes.

"May, I know you have your reservations," Phil said. "And you have every right to. But, this is Rita Stein's son we're talking about," Phil said. May froze.

"Yeah, I know it is a lot to take in," Coulson said. "His father is..."

"Hank Rayon." May whispered.

"You knew?" Coulson asked.

"Rita and I were friends," May said. "She told me she was going out with Hank. She never said they had a son."

"So I'm not the only one who keeps secrets," Coulson said and there was a smile on his lips.

May gave him an icy look. "What happens if he loses his mind? Like his father. Like..." She can't bring herself to say the name.

"Like Katya?" Coulson asks. "If he goes rogue, I'll put him down myself."

"Are you sure you can do that? I know how much Rita meant to you."

"It was a long time ago," Phil smiles ruefully. "And she chose Hank."

"Only because your work involved so much travel," May said.

"She told you that?" Coulson asked.

"She loved you. But she wanted to settle down." May said. "And she couldn't wait forever."

They're silent as the Bus soars on to its next destination.


	2. Chapter 2 Chasing Adventure

Chapter 2

Jack is watching a medical programme on TV with a look of disgust on his face when Coulson walks in.

"How are you holding up?" he asks glancing at the screen and doing a double-take at what he sees.

"Er... not too bad," Jack says tearing his eyes away from the screen. "Gemma thought it might help if I learned more about the human body..."

They both stare in horrified fascination at the screen for a few seconds before resuming their conversation.

"How's that working out?" Coulson asks.

"I don't think it is," Jack said. "It's put me off my food."

Coulson smiles sympathetically. "Are you getting on all right with the others?"

"Er... sure." Jack said – though he sounded anything but certain.

"I know it's difficult, but you've got to give people a chance to get to know you," Coulson said. "They might surprise you."

"I tried," Jack said sounding miserable. "I didn't make a very good start. I offered to help Agent Fitz get better."

"Ooooh," Coulson cringed.

"I know," Jack said. "He asked whether I thought he was someone who needed fixing."

Coulson sat down next to Jack. "Look, it's always awkward being the new kid but if you find excuses to stay away from them you're not giving them or yourself a chance."

Jack stirred the congealing cereal in his bowl and said nothing.

"Anyway, I thought I'd just check on you before things get busy... well, busier," Coulson said.

"Are you going on an adventure?" Jack asks his eyes lighting up. "Can I join you? You know I could help."

Coulson grins at the word 'adventure'. "Not until we know more," he said apologetically. "Once Simmons has cleared you... maybe."

Jack smiles, but looks gloomy as soon as Coulson walks away. He flips to a cartoon channel.

When Gonzales' people take over Jack is fast asleep on the sofa. He is marched over to the rest of the team at gun point.

"We found this boy on board as well, Sir," an agent tells Gonzales.

"Ah yes," Gonzales looks wearily at Jack. "Jack Walthar."

"Jack Stein, actually," Jack says, trying to sound brave but not faking it very well.

"What was Coulson planning to do with him?" Gonzales asks Simmons and Fitz. They shrug and say nothing.

"We can't put you into a regular orphanage," Gonzales says, "Sit him down with those two for now," he says indicating Fitz and Simmons. He moves on to interrogate Agent May.

"Where's Coulson?" Jack whispers to Gemma.

"He got away." she whispers back. "Remember not to tell them about _all _you can do" she adds, giving him a knowing look. "And don't worry. It'll turn out all right in the end."

Fitz looks sceptical at this. Gemma gives him a look and he turns to Jack and says, "Yeah, it will. It will turn out all right in the end."

Jack gives them a watery smile and looks down at his shoes. He lets them whisper together about the new state of affairs for a while. Then he works up the courage to speak to Fitz. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier," he says when there's a break in their conversation. "About... I don't think you're broken... I mean... that you need fixing..."

"Don't worry about it," Fitz says. "I shouldn't have given you a hard time about it."

They are interrupted by Gonzales who offers Fitz and Simmons the chance to stay on as part of his team. Fitz is adamant that he won't stay. He would rather leave Shield. Jack is relieved that Gemma agrees to stay. At least he won't be alone.

There's a flurry of activity after that. Fitz is taken away and Gemma goes to the lab. Jack is left sitting on the floor with an armed guard standing warily over him. What seems like hours later Gonzales returns.

"We've decided to send you to a foster home," Gonzales tells him. "It's run by a former Shield agent and his wife. We've briefed them about you. You only get one chance to integrate with that family – all the other children there are normal. If anyone finds out that you're not human you leave us no choice but to extract you and house you in a Shield facility. If that happens you lose your chance at living a normal life – at least as normal as you can expect. Do I make myself clear?"

Jack nods. He looks terrified.

Gonzales softens a little. "You'll be treated fairly as long as you stick to the rules."

Jack is marched to his little cubicle to collect his things. Then he joins Fitz. Gemma is helping him on with his knapsack. She gives Jack a warm hug.

"Take care, Jack," she says. Jack blushes and nods.

They're taken on board a quin jet and soon they're in the air. An agent sits on either side of Fitz and Jack so neither of them speak. When the plane lands there are two black cars waiting for them with a new set of agents in each car. As they discuss their charges Fitz and Jack get a chance to talk.

"Good luck to you, Jack," Fitz says.

"Thanks Fitz," Jack says shyly shaking the hand Fitz offers. "Good luck to you too..." He breaks off as he realises that Fitz is passing him a small phone.

Fitz looks over his shoulder to make sure they are not being overheard. "If things get bad at the foster home give me a call. If I can help at all I will."

Jack nods and slips the phone into his pocket, relieved that Fitz isn't mad at him after all.

"I guess you'll be glad to be rid of those guys soon," he says, trying to make conversation.

"No, they're going to be tailing me even after they drop me off," Fitz says. "They'll be hoping I'll make contact with Coulson."

Jack's eyes widened. "Will you?" he whispers.

"No, that would be pretty stupid," Fitz said, but his eyes twinkle.

"I wish I could come with you," Jack says longingly. "You're off on an adventure aren't you?"

"Adventures aren't always all they're cracked up to be Jack," Fitz says as the agents break up their little huddle and start walking over to them. Jack bites his lip remembering the story of how Fitz was dropped into the sea.

"You take care." Jack nods. As Fitz walks away he hopes that won't be the last time they see each other.

Then he is whisked off in one of the cars. Jack watches the scenery pass by thinking of what Fitz said. During the last six months of his mother's life when she was trying to teach him how to survive on his own she had made her work sound exciting. He had dreamed of having adventures of his own but then his father had appeared and put him off them.

Was going to this foster home a good idea? He had felt safe with Coulson and his team – up on a plane. But here, his father might easily find him. Perhaps his best bet was to try and lose the agents and give Fitz a call. But how? He started working on a plan. Would it work?

He screwed up the courage and turned to the agent sitting next to him. "I need to go," he says.

The agent doesn't understand at first – or maybe Jack spoke too quietly. "What?" he asks.

"I really have to go," Jack said.

The agent looks exasperated. He signals his partner who's driving.

"Can I leave my bag in the car?" Jack asks. There's nothing in it that he needs and he hopes that by leaving it behind he'll lull the agents into a false sense of security. If he was planning to run he would take the bag with him.

But he's unlucky. An agent accompanies him. Jack pretends to be in a hurry. They're crossing a big parking lot when out of the corner of his eye he sees a small green car approaching them. The agent pulls him to a stop and keeps a hand on his shoulder, waiting for the car to pass.

Just as the car gets up to them Jack sticks his leg out. There is a sickening thud as the car rams his leg – throwing him on to the curb. The vehicle screeches to a halt and a woman gets out clearly distraught.

"I don't know what happened!" She exclaimed, ringing her hands. "He just walked into my car!"

Jack tried to ignore the horrific waves of pain that washed over him and the way his shin bone jutted out of a hole in his jeans. He looked up at the sky, at the distressed woman and the exasperated agent.

"What are you playing at?" the agent hissed at him, crouching next to Jack as a small crowd gathered around them.

"I really have to go," Jack said faintly, squeezing his eyes shut. He wasn't up to thinking up a nwe conversation at that point.

"I'm going to get you out of this crowd and you're going to hurry up and heal yourself," the agent said in a low angry voice. Jack thought he could hear the purr of the black car. His hopes of escape plummeted.

"Excuse me," Jack heard a woman say. "Make way please, I'm a doctor."

"It's all right ma'am," the agent said. "We're with er... National Security."

"But you're not a doctor, I presume," the woman's voice said crisply. "Step back please," she told the crowd who obediently gave her space to kneel beside Jack.

"An ambulance is five minutes away," a man's voice said. The agent grunted in disgust.

Jack opened his eyes and looked at the kindly face of a sprightly grey haired woman.

"What's your name?" she asked him with a smile.

"Jack," he said through gritted teeth.

"You're a very brave boy Jack," she said. "Where does it hurt the most? Your leg?"

Jack nodded.

"Anywhere else?"

"No," Jack whispered.

"I'm just going to feel for any other broken bones, all right? I won't touch your leg." She checked for other injuries and then sat back on her heels. The sound of an ambulance siren could now be heard. She slipped off a cloth belt from around her waist and deftly tied a tourniquet above his knee.

As she bent over him Jack whispered, "They're not with National Security." The doctor was startled but she recovered quickly.

By then the ambulance had arrived. In no time Jack's bone was set and he was loaded onto the ambulance. The doctor patted his shoulder and told him he would be all right. As the agent prepared to get in the ambulance with Jack she turned to him and said, "May I see some ID please?"

"I told you..." the agent began.

"If you're not family, and you're not National Security I'm afraid you don't get to ride in the ambulance with the patient." She nodded at the paramedic who got in and shut the door. Jack got a glimpse of the menacing black car pulling up behind the ambulance.

'Right,' Jack thought to himself as the paramedic deftly bandaged his shin. 'Now what? Think. Think!' But even when the ambulance drove into the hospital he had no plan.

As the doors opened he expected the agents to be right there, ready to whisk him away. But it was only when he was being wheeled out he saw the agent speaking earnestly with two policemen. He could only imagine that the doctor had called the police and reported the two men in suits.

His chance to escape came as he was wheeled up to the x-ray room. There were already two other patients in line to be x-rayed. A nurse came up to him and told him he would be taken in soon. The moment she disappeared behind a glass door he slipped off the stretcher. One of the other patients – a young woman on a wheel chair stared at him. One of his jeans legs had been cut away and the bony limb that stuck out from under it was wrapped up in blood-soaked bandages.

"Here, you'd better get back on that bed," she said.

Jack ignored her and walked out of another door. It led into a corridor that opened into three different wards. He walked quickly down the corridor expecting to bump into the Shield agents at any moment. He followed the exit signs and got to a door that led outside. Just then two medical staff walked in smelling of cigarette smoke. As the door swung shut he caught a glimpse of a man in a suit talking on the phone.

'They're covering all the exits,' Jack thought in desperation. 'And they're probably calling for back up.

Someone laid a hand on his shoulder and he jumped.

"You all right son?" It was a policeman. Jack nodded and tried to smile.

"Aren't you the boy who was just wheeled in with a broken leg?" The policeman asked looking puzzled.

"Uh... yeah. They thought I had a broken leg..." Jack said, his voice coming out in a squeak.

"Have you seen a doctor?" The policeman was starting to look sceptical now.

"I was in an accident and er... they... the doctor, thought I had a broken leg but it wasn't really broken. See?" Jack hopped on his bandaged leg.

"Did the doctor also mistakenly think you were being accompanied by phony National Security agents?" The policeman was a big man. There was distinct sarcasm in his voice as he crossed his arms. Jack could feel the sweat trickling down his neck.

"No, that part was true," Jack said hoarsely.

"Tell you what," the policeman said. "Since you don't seem to be hurt why don't you come with me to the police station and tell me your story?"

"Sure," Jack said, an octave too high. He ducked under the policeman's arm and ran back the way he had come. He turned back to see the policeman following him unhurriedly, while talking into a walky-talky.

'What should I do now?' he thought in a panic. 'What would you do Mom?' Jack found himself back among the wards. 'Change the way I look!' he thought seeing his reflection in a glass door. He picked up a pair of scissors from the nurse's station and followed the signs to the men's washroom. Quickly getting into a cubicle he cut away the other leg of his jeans so that it looked like he was wearing shorts. Then he took off the checked shirt he wore, turned it inside out and put it on again. Now he was in shorts and a dark blue shirt.

Could he cut off his hair – he did badly need a haircut but there wasn't time. Instead he wet his hair in the sink and pasted it back. He hoped he looked different enough now. He walked out of the toilets as unhurriedly as he could.

When he reached the emergency room it was in chaos. A family had just come in. They seemed to have been in a very bad car accident. The mother's head was wrapped in blood soaked gauze but she didn't seem to care. She was screaming at the doctors to save her child and husband.

Jack stood there paralysed. Suddenly, his need to get away from the policeman and the agents outside seemed childish and silly. He could heal these people. The father and child had been wheeled into the operating theatre. The mother continued to scream. Two nurses who had just sedated her were trying to wrestle her back onto a wheeled stretcher. She wilted slowly into their arms moaning about her baby.

"Your baby's going to be fine," the nurses murmured. "She's stable now – she has a good chance of making it. You need to calm down too."

They lay her down on a gurney and one of them ran for more gauze. The other turned away to answer a ringing phone and Jack slipped in between the gurney and the wall. He blew out a calming breath. He reached up to the gurney and held the woman's limp hand.

The pain hit him with such a force that he groaned, holding his head. His skull felt as though it had split in half. He had just enough time to see a pair of policeman's boots from under the gurney before passing out.

When Jack woke up he was being wheeled into a quiet darkened room. Heavy bandages were wrapped around his head and the right side of his face. He could only open one eye. He felt no pain and was sure he had already healed.

"Is that the mystery boy?" he heard a woman's voice ask.

"Yes, it's a good thing that cop was looking for the runaway."

"Did they find the runaway?"

"No, he seems to have got away clean."

"Who's this then? Another child of that car crash family?"

"Don't know, we'll have to wait till the mother comes around to ask. Melissa sedated her because she was getting violent."

"Oh? I thought the mother was injured too"

"No, not a scratch on her."

"But Meilissa said..."

"Go see for yourself – she was covered in blood but not a scratch on her!"

The gurney had stopped and the nurses voices moved further away. Jack opened an eye.

He was in a ward with three other patients. They were all heavily sedated and there were machines hooked up to them. He had a flashback to when his mother was in hospital with cancer. His stomach lurched.

He pulled out the IV line into his hand and got off the bed. He tried to free his other eye from the bandages but they wouldn't budge. There was a middle-aged man in a bed. His head was bandaged too and most of the rest of his body.

Jack's heart sank for a minute at the thought of all the pain he would need to endure again if he was to heal the man. He took several deep breaths blowing them out slowly. He was about to touch the man when an idea hit him.

If he was hooked up to the man's IV line he'd have strong pain-killers running through his veins. Maybe they'd help. He unhooked the man's IV line and fitted it to the cannula on his hand – he'd seen this done a hundred times on his mother. He waited till the man started to get restless and then touched his hand. The pain he felt was much less intense. He was much more aware of what was happening to him. Broken ribs – maybe four or five. Something wrong with the spine – Jack's legs buckled and he had to grab the side of the bed. In horror Jack realised that the man's arms were probably broken too as they were both in casts. He felt his own arm bones break and gritted his teeth. He managed to throw himself further on to the man on the bed. If he slid off the bed the IV line would come lose and he'd lose contact with the man. They'd both be in immense pain.

The man groaned. 'Hang on,' Jack willed him to be quiet. 'Just a little longer.' He shut his eyes and concentrated. Yes, he could feel the breaks healing inside him. The man must be healing too. Jack opened his eyes and looked at the scratched, swollen side of his face. The scratches were starting to heal.

Jack blinked. Should he heal the man completely? Wouldn't that raise awkward questions? He let go of the man's hand and slid off the bed. Now it was his turn to groan – the man must have had extensive spinal injuries.

"Sandy?" The man was awake! Jack panicked. He could hear footsteps heading their way but he couldn't move.

The man continued to thrash around on the bed and call out the name 'Sandy.' The footsteps broke into a run. With a superhuman willpower Jack managed to unfasten the IV line.

There was an exclamation from the nurse. She was beside Jack in seconds.

He pointed at the swinging IV line and said, "Loose."

"How did that happen?" the nurse tutted. She deftly fitted the IV line back into the man's cannula and held him down till he grew still. Then she lifted Jack back and carried him to his bed. Jack had to bite his lip top stop from crying out. The nurse had no way of knowing that his spine was injured.

"There," she said with a smile, placing him on his own bed. "Were you trying to help?"

Jack nodded slightly. Instinctively he felt that he needed to arch his back so that his spine could heal properly.

"Do you remember the accident?" the nurse asked fitting the IV line back onto his hand.

The pressure was building up in his back. He gritted his teeth and straightened out. Immediately the pain lessened.

"Are you in pain?" the nurse asked. "Your injuries aren't as bad as they first looked. Just very nasty cuts and scrapes. We have you down here as a John Doe. Can you tell me your name?"

"Tired," Jack murmured. He closed his eyes hoping the nurse would go away. She pottered around for a while longer and then went out.

Jack opened his eyes. He was almost completely healed. He looked around at the two other patients. One was a teenage boy, the other a young man. As soon as he felt better Jack got off the bed again. The teenager had a pipe going into his mouth and more machines around him. He seemed to need help more than the young man.

This time Jack decided to lie down under the teenager's bed. He pulled the boy's hand down so that it hung over the side. Then he reached out and touched him. The pain started in his chest and mid section. He gasped as it intensified. The pain reached a peak and then started to ebb. Jack let his own hand slide down to the cold floor. He focused on blowing air out – just as he'd seen his mother do when her pain intensified.

"You're going to be okay," he remembered her saying even while tears poured down her cheeks. "You're a survivor."

Jack choked back a sob. He crawled out from under the bed and over to the young man. This time he inserted the man's IV line into his own cannula and even the pain of remembering his mother seemed to lessen. He sat on the floor propped up against the side of the bed and held the man's hand.

A sharp pain blossomed in his side. Jack sat there till it ebbed. He focused on all the happiest times he'd spent with his mother. Oboe classes – that hadn't lasted long! His mother going on the swings in the playground with him she'd been told off because the swings were meant for children under twelve. They'd pretended the man was an ogre and run away screaming only to collapse in a giggling heap as soon as they were out of sight.

The sound of footsteps brought him sharply back to the present. He just had time to remove the IV line and get back to his bed before the nurse entered. He pretended to be asleep. She checked on him first and moved to the other patients. She didn't notice that the young man's IV line was disconnected. She seemed to be in a hurry. She marked a few charts and walked out quickly.

Jack was about to get up to reattach the man's IV line when he sat up. Jack lay still. The man looked around and got off the bed. He went over to the teenager and shook him but the boy was heavily sedated. The man slipped out of the room. Jack sat up. What would happen now he wondered. Where was the man going? Was it a good time for him to leave too? What would he do about clothes?

Footsteps again. Jack lay back down. A doctor appeared. He had a scissor in his hand. He held it at a weird angle – almost like a weapon. Jack looked closely at him and realised that it was the young man he had just healed. He was wearing a white jacket over his hospital gown. He stood over the teenager, raised the scissor in the air and stabbed him in the chest.

"No!" Jack cried out in abject horror.

The man turned and glared at him for a split second before sprinting out. He collided with the nurse who regained her balance and ran into the room. The machines that were attached to the teenager were beeping madly. She stared in horror at the blood welling up from his chest.

Jack could only stare mutely as the room filled with nurses and a doctor. They wheeled the other boy out of the room and Jack was left alone with a nurse and the unconscious man.

"Did you see what happened?" the nurse asked him.

"He stabbed him," Jack managed to say, unable to take his eyes off the trail of blood on the floor.

"It's all right," the nurse said. "He'll be all right, I am sure. Is your family here?"

The question was just too much for Jack. He couldn't stop the tears.

"Ph... phone..." he managed to say. "My phone."

The nurse understood. "You can't use your phone here. If you feel up to it I can wheel you out to the lockers where your things are and you can make a quick call ok?"

Jack nodded. The nurse checked his chart for his patient number and then wheeled him out to a set of lockers out in the corridor. She opened one of them and pulled out Jack's clothes and then the phone.

"Make it a quick one, all right? I need to get back to my station but the nurse in charge will be back soon and she'll take you back to your bed okay?"

Jack nodded. With the phone in his hand it was easier to stop crying.

"Tell you what - I'll come back and check on you myself okay?" she asked. He nodded again wishing she would leave.

There was just one number on listed on the phone. As he listened to the ringing tone he told himself that it was very unlikely that anyone would answer. He decided to let it ring till the end. Just as he was about to give up a voice answered.

"Hello?" It was Fitz!

"Fitz!" Jack said almost sobbing with relief. "It's me, Jack."

"Jack where are you? Are you all right?"

"I gave them the slip, Fitz," Jack said. "I'm in a hospital."

"Are you hurt? What am I saying – are you all right?"

"Yes, but can you come and get me... please?" Jack gulped down a sob. There was a moment's silence and Jack's heart sank.

"Jack," it was Coulson's voice. "I want you to text me the location of your hospital and then I will text you a location. I need you to get to that location by..."

"11 pm," Jack heard Hunter's voice.

"11 pm," Coulson said. "Do you think you can do that?"

"Yes," Jack said. He was filling up with relief and joy so fast that he felt he could fly.

"Good. See you soon," Coulson said and the line went dead.

Jack got off the wheelchair and ran back to his room. He pulled the cannula out of his hand and texted the location of the hospital. Then he changed his clothes and slipped the phone into his pocket. He looked around for something to cut away the bandages. The bloody scissor lay on the ground and he turned away from it with a shudder.

He tore desperately at the bandages wrapped around his head and managed at last to get them off. He ran to the doors and stared at his reflection in horror. Half his head had been completely shorn off. How would he ever get out without attracting notice?

He pushed his forehead against the glass. Where could he find a wig from? In a hospital? Not an option. A razor? Possibly, but he'd have to find a supply room. He walked out looking down at his feet hoping not to make eye contact and then he remembered what his mother had said.

'Walk like you own the place – like you belong – and people won't be suspicious.'

'Okay, Mom,' he thought swallowing a lump in his throat. 'I sure hope no one thinks it's strange to see a half bald kid walking through the hospital at night.'

He turned a corner and almost walked straight into a nurse.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

Jack blinked. His mind was a blank.

"You should be back in your ward!" she scolded. "Naughty boy! Jake – would you escort him back to the children's ward?"

A skinny, sleepy-looking man slouched over to him. 'This way kid," he said.

Jack walked meekly ahead of him. The children's ward! Why hadn't he thought of that? Perhaps he could find clothes that fit him – and a cap to cover his uneven head!

They got to the elevator and the man pressed 2. "You remember the way right kid?" the man asked. "I got things to do. Just go back to your bed okay?"

Jack couldn't believe his luck. If he'd been escorted to the children's ward there'd be all kinds of questions when the nurse in charge said he didn't belong there. "Okay," he said as the doors of the elevator closed.

Jack's luck seemed to holding. He managed to find the boy's ward without meeting a nurse. As he slipped into the dimly lit room he saw two nurses with a child at the far end. Jack slipped under a bed. He made his way to the second bed on which a boy about his size lay sleeping. Jack opened the door of the bedside cupboard and pulled out the boy's clothes. Being as quiet as he could he changed into them and slipped the phone into the pocket of his 'new' cargo pants. He rummaged in the cupboard some more but didn't find a cap.

The nurses walked out not knowing that the runaway was hiding under the second bed. Peeping out from under the bed Jack's heart leapt. He could see a cap on the chair by a bed on the opposite isle. Jack padded softly over and put the cap on. It was a little tight but it would have to do.

Now what? If he walked out the door he was bound to bump into a nurse. The windows were barred. He looked around the quiet ward. One of the boys sat up cautiously. In a trice Jack was under a bed. But the boy walked right over to him and crouched down.

Jack got the shock of his life.

"Kaycee?" he whispered. It was his friend from Nam Tam. How was this possible?

"Sh!" Kaycee said. "Come on."

Jack blinked in the darkness. Then he scrambled out. Kaycee had climbed on a chair near a barred window. He beckoned to Jack and Jack ran over. Kaycee pushed the window up and silently removed the two bars.

"This way," he whispered climbing out of the window and standing on the ledge below.

Jack pinched himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming, before following his friend onto the ledge. Kaycee slid down the drainpipe as quietly as snake. Jack, with just a moment's hesitation slipped down it too but with less grace and more noise.

"Kay..." A giant hand wrapped around Jack's face and another pinned his arms down. He was lifted off his feet and carried away. Jack struggled with all his might even though he knew it was useless. Useless to fight against his father.

He was thrown into an alley. A tall chain-link fence blocked one exit and his father and friend blocked the other.

Jack got slowly to his feet, his mind reeling as he tried to make sense of this. His friend had no idea what a monster his father was. He needed to warn Kaycee.

"Hello, son," his father said. "What – no hug? You disappoint me... yet again."

"Good thing he isn't your only son," Kaycee said.

"Kaycee, you need to run away..." Jack began, but even as he said that Kaycee's words sank in. "What... what do you mean?"

"Remember how I was so mad at you for killing my father?" Kaycee said stepping forward towards Jack. "Well, turns out you didn't."

"No," Jack said backing away. His stomach was churning.

"That's right," Kaycee said with a big grin. "Turns out – your dad was my dad."

Jack turned away and threw up.

"You didn't appreciate him but I do," Kaycee said. "So now it is time for you to say bye-bye... brother." Kaycee punched Jack in the chest, sending him crashing into some empty dustbins.

"At first, I blamed your mother for this," his father said coming out of the shadows. "She made you soft. If she hadn't hidden you away from me I would have trained you up to be a proper warrior. Did you know we're warriors? We're made for war. I thought going through the mist would fix you. But look at the gift you got. Selfish – like your mother. It only protects you. It's of no use to anyone else."

"But it does make you... interesting," Kaycee said with a leer. "I do owe you some pain. After all, you did kill the man I thought was my father." Kaycee threw back his head and made a gargling noise. Then he spat.

Jack just had time to see a green projectile fly out of Kaycee's mouth before it hit him in the face. Jack screamed, clutching his eyes. The pain was so intense that it felt as though he couldn't breathe. His face and hands were on fire. He was knocked to the ground with a kick to the ribs that he hardly felt. He rolled on the ground waiting for the pain to subside.

"Interesting," Kaycee said, kicking Jack onto his back. "He heals pretty fast."

Kaycee threw back his head again. Hearing the horrible gargling noise again Jack scrambled futilely away.

A gunshot echoed in the alley and Kaycee fell sprawling over Jack, acid dribbling out of his mouth and onto the dirt with a hiss. Jack pushed him away as his father roared and more gunshots reverberated in the little alley.

A figure came running towards him and Jack covered away from it.

"Jack! Jack, it's me, Fitz."

"Fitz!" Jack almost cried with relief. "Watch out..."

"Don't worry, I've iced them," Fitz said. "Can you walk?"

"I can't see," Jack said as Fitz helped him to his feet. "My father – he won't stay down for long."

"We need to hurry," Fitz said. "Come on, I'll help you."

Even as they passed him Jack's father growled and turned over.

"Just a little faster," Fitz said.

"Maybe you should... er... shoot him again?" Jack said hurrying as fast as he could. "Just for luck?"

"Can't," Fitz said shortly. "I gave him all I had."

Silently they redoubled their speed. Jack's vision was returning and he broke into a run with Fitz. Another roar sounded from behind them.

"This way," Fitz said guiding Jack around a corner. They could hear garbage cans being kicked around and the sound of someone lumbering after them.

"We're almost there," Fit said looking behind them. He was just in time to see Hank lift a huge garbage bin over his head. "Get down!" Fitz and Jack hit the ground just as the deadly missile flew inches over their heads.

"I'm going to kill you!" Hank roared. This time he picked up a pizza delivery bike – the rider having prudently run away. But just as he was about to throw it, a hail of icer bullets hit him square in the chest.

Coulson and Hunter had arrived just on time.

"All right, Jack?" Coulson asked, picking him up.

"Yes," Jack realised he was shaking.

"Good job Fitz decided to meet you half way," he smiled.

"Yeah, very good job," Jack said, trying to steady his voice. "Thanks Fitz."

"No problem," Fitz said and Jack felt a little better as he realised that there was a slight tremor in his voice too. "I'd have packed more bullets if I thought you'd have company though."

"What do we do with him?" Hunter asked, still keeping Hank within his sights.

"Leave him for now," Coulson said. "We've bigger problems to deal with."

Jack squinted at Coulson his vision almost back to normal. "We do?" he asked.

"It's an adventure Jack," Coulson said but he looked pretty grim.

"Told you," Fitz said. Jack nodded soberly. Adventures really aren't always everything they're cracked up to be.


	3. Chapter 3 Finding Self

Finding self

"Just don't say anything," Fitz told Jack in a low voice as they boarded the plane. He looked very tense. 'But then I would too,' Jack thought, sitting down next to Fitz, and staring at the powerful cyborg on board the plane. He barely glanced at the two agents who were whispering and giggling together in a corner.

It took him a few minutes to figure out that the man with rockets in his arms – Mike Peterson – was a Shield Agent and on Coulson's side.

"Who's this then?" The tall man in the leather jacket asked Coulson, as he caught sight of Jack.

"Just a passenger – a promise I need to keep," Coulson said shortly.

"Must be a very important person for you to make a detour at this point?" Jack didn't like the way the man stared at him. Was he a super? Could he read minds? Jack looked down at his hands.

"He's not your concern, Ward," Coulson said curtly. "Let's go over the plans one more time."

By the time their discussion was over Jack had a pretty good idea of what their plans were. Coulson was trying to find Skye. Ward and his friend were there to help. Coulson didn't trust Ward. Or like him. They were expecting trouble. They were armed to the teeth!

"I could..." he began to whisper to Fitz but Fitz frowned and shook his head.

Jack remained quiet. Coulson knew what he was capable of. For some reason he didn't want Ward to know that Jack was a super. Jack's stomach lurched as the plane began descending.

"Stay on the plane," was all Coulson said to him and then Jack was alone. It took him half an hour to decide to unbuckle his seatbelt and explore the plane. And another fifteen minutes to move into the cockpit and gaze longingly at the controls.

But then things happened very quickly. The blonde woman agent from the other Shield team – Bobbi from Real Shield – and the woman who had been with Ward came along helping a wounded Hunter between them. Two other agents that Jack remembered but didn't know the names of flanked them. Jack just had time to get out of the cockpit before they got in and took the controls.

Blood was pouring out of Hunter's side. Jack got closer to Hunter wondering whether it was okay to heal him but Hunter gave him a warning look and said, "Buckle up, kid."

"Hello Jack," Bobbi said pulling out the first aid kit.

By the time they got to the base Hunter was patched up and Jack had figured out that Coulson had surrendered, the cyborg had been captured and Skye was gone.

There was a lot of action going on behind closed doors at the base. Coulson was behind those doors and Jack wondered what they would do with him. He made himself as small and still as he could so that people wouldn't notice him and it seemed to work.

From scraps of conversation he pieced together that Coulson, May, Fitz and Simmons would be going on a daring mission to rescue Mike Peterson. He saw Hunter disappearing into a room and followed him. Hunter was sitting down with the big agent who was Bobbi's friend. What was his name? Mack? He looked in on the two and cleared his throat.

"Hey, Jack," Hunter said. He didn't seem to be angry with the big guy anymore.

"Hey," Jack said.

"Have they decided what to do with you?" Hunter asked.

"I think they've forgotten about me," Jack said. "Which is fine by me."

"So you can heal people?" Mack asked. Jack blinked.

"They know, Jack," Hunter said. "We're all on the same side now. Apparently." He and Mack chuckled.

Jack shook his head, thinking he'd never make a good secret agent. How would one figure out who was a friend and who was an enemy if it kept changing all the time? Did they send out a memo?

"Well, then I guess I can do this," he said reaching out and placing his hand on Hunter's wrist. He could see the bandage on Hunter's side under his t-shirt. Jack figured that healing Hunter would be a nice, friendly gesture...

"What? No!" Hunter whipped his hand away at lightning speed, even leaping back from the chair he was on.

Jack's face burnt red hot with embarrassment. "I... I'm sorry. I just thought... Sorry." He backed out of the room and hurried away.

"Man, you really have a way with kids," Mack told Hunter.

Hunter groaned. "It's just... I wasn't..." He ran a hand over his face. "Okay," he sighed. "I'll go talk to him."

Hunter finally found Jack behind a sofa in the recreational area – which was fortunately empty. He was hugging his knees, his head buried in his lap.

"Hey Jack, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Please tell me you aren't... crying?"

Jack raised his head but didn't look Hunter in the eye.

"I'm not crying," he said rather fiercely. "I'm fine. I'm sorry. I have this... gift or curse I don't know what it is. And I can heal people but only cuts and bruises. Not things like cancer which would have mde a difference. And who needs their cuts and bruises healed when doctors can already do that? I'm useless. I'm..."

"You're not useless Jack," Hunter interrupted quickly. "And I'm sorry I made you feel that way."

"I freak you out." Jack said, making eye contact for the first time.

"No." Hunter started to say but then he stopped. "Yeah, you're right. I'm sorry. You're different. And I can't wrap my head around what you do. But that's no excuse for how I reacted."

"But the Avengers are different and no one has a problem with them," Jack said. "It's just me who freaks people out."

Hunter struggled to find the right words. "I guess... I don't know... I guess it's because you don't want people messing with you. I mean, I get a cut and I know roughly how long it's going to heal. But to watch someone magically heal that cut is a little... er..."

"It's ok," Jack said. "I freaked out too in the beginning. I guess I'm used to it now. I really wish I was normal though." He laughed. "Bet you never heard a super say that."

"Actually, I don't know any supers," Hunter said, rather relieved that the conversation was veering towards normal. "Not really. Not after they became supers. But I do hear that Bruce Banner isn't too keen on his super power."

Jack grinned. "Yeah, I guess compared to that..."

"You're not doing too badly," Hunter agreed with a smile. "Look, why don't you come hang out with Mack and me? We're setting up a comms links so we can hear what's going on with Coulson and the others."

Jack looked sceptical. "You're sure I won't weird you out?"

Hunter thought about wise-cracking at that point but then decided not to. "Listen," he said, seriously. "I can't wrap my head around what you do but the truth is, if I had a bullet to the heart and I was dying I'd be very glad to have you around. And I'd be eternally grateful if you did what you do and saved my life."

Jack made a rueful face. "Got it," he said. "And until then when you get hurt you'd rather..."

"I'd rather heal old school, yeah?" Hunter laughed, pulling Jack to his feet.

When Coulson and his team return after a mostly successful mission, Mack and Hunter left Jack to join the debriefing. Jack longed to meet Coulson and have a proper talk about his future but he knew that this would have to wait.

Mack had told him where he could find a TV in an isolated corner of the base so he ventured out to find it with a soda and a doughnut that Hunter had got him. He'd just settled down when a young woman with long hair turned up and sat down next to him.

"Hello Jack," she said. "My name is Skye. I hear you've got a pretty cool talent."

For about a minute Jack could only stare. First of all, Skye was very attractive. It didn't help that she was smiling at him. Second of all they'd dived right into the topic of his 'talent' and she called it cool!

"Um... hi." Jack said, clearing his throat. "I'm Jack. I've heard a lot about you."

"Not all bad I hope," Skye grinned.

"You can make things shake," Jack said.

"Yup," Skye said. "Everything vibrates at different frequencies and I can tune into them."

"So everything hums?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, sort of," Skye said. "Hang on. I'll show you."

She took out the straw and the lid from his cup of soda and gave a little frown, cupping her hands a foot away from the cup. The soda fizzed up like a fountain, swirled above the cup a few times and slipped neatly back into the cup.

"There," she said.

"That is so cool!" Jack said in dazed wonder. "And you can also break a tree into tiny pieces right?"

"If I have to," Skye said. "I didn't exactly mean for that to happen. Not the first time."

"Wow." Jack said.

"Coulson said you saved his life," Skye said. "In my book that beats anything I can do."

Jack made a face. "Just happened to be at the right place at the right time I guess."

"Wait, you don't think what you can do is cool?" Skye asked.

Jack was immediately suspicious. "Did Hunter send you?" he asked.

Skye laughed. "Hunter did ask me to talk to you but I was going to do that anyway. When Coulson told me about you I couldn't wait to meet you."

"You must know a lot of people like... uh... us?" Jack asked.

"Yeah," Skye said. "We're Inhumans. There's a place called Afterlife where there are lots of people who are different and lots of people who hope to become different – people who want to come into their own." Jack was fascinated. The more Skye spoke about the people she had spent the last few months with the more he was drawn to thinking that perhaps he had been wrong about what he could do."

"So you see," Skye said, "What you have is a gift. And it is a gift that a lot of people would give anything to have."

Jack shrugged. "I don't... well... it's a pretty selfish gift really. I mean I can't beat up bad guys or save people who are suffering from some kind of disease like cancer."

Skye grinned. "Well, beating up bad guys – I was doing that before I got my gift – you can learn to do that. And beating cancer – Coulson told me about your mom – that's really tough. I can relate to that a little. For the longest time I thought that my mom was dead..."

"She's not?" Jack was surprised.

"No, I found her," Skye said. "But I know that feeling – like you're not really complete?"

Jack nodded. "Yeah. I thought things would be better when my dad turned up but he's kind of a monster." He tried to smile but didn't quite manage it.

"I thought my dad was a monster too, Jack," Skye said. "But I got to really spend time with him and I realised he's not. Just don't give up on your dad just yet okay?"

"The disappearing man took him..." Jack said, remembering suddenly. "Do you know him? Have you seen my dad in Afterlife?"

"The disappearing man is Gordon," Skye said. "I don't know where he put your dad but I am sure I can find out."

"Uh... ok, I guess," Jack wasn't sure he wanted to meet his father any time soon.

"But listen, I could do with your help," Skye said. "My friend is hurt pretty badly."

"Your friend Lincoln – the electricity guy?" Jack asked standing up. He had heard most of the story sitting with Mack and Hunter.

"Yes, have you ever healed an Inhuman before?" Skye asked as they walked to the hospital wing.

"No," Jack said a little nervously. "First time for everything!"

But when they stopped at Lincoln's bed Jack had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. The man was pretty banged up.

"I think I'm going to have to lie down for this," Jack said. He was worried that the pain would make him cry out and he didn't want to do that in front of Skye.

"Let's get another bed in here." It was Coulson. "Hi Jack. You've met Skye?"

Jack nodded. Oh no – he thought. I'm going to have an audience. A bed was wheeled in and placed next to Lincoln's.

"You can take him off the pain medication," Jack told a nurse. She looked at Coulson for approval and he nodded.

Jack got on the bed. May, Bobbi, Mack and some of the others were gathered on the other side of the glass. Skye was holding Lincoln's hand.

"I think you'd better let go," Jack said lying down and trying not replay his conversation with Hunter in his head. They're not going to think you're a freak, he told himself sternly. He placed his hand on Lincoln's wrist.

Pain erupted throughout his body. Jack gasped and fought for control. 'Keep it together!' he told himself. 'People are watching.'

Somehow he made it past the worst of the pain without screaming. He could feel Lincoln stirring. He heard Skye talking to Lincoln and Lincoln replying but he wasn't paying attention. He could also feel a prickly sensation at the back of his neck. It was weird. He'd never felt that before.

Then he heard Coulson's voice nearby. "Jack, are you okay?"

Jack opened his eyes. He knew he was frowning and Coulson looked concerned.

"Something's not right." Jack said. There was pin drop silence after he said this. The silence was scary. He could feel his heart start to gallop inside his chest.

Then Coulson spoke in his usual cool, calm voice. "Easy Jack," he said. "Take your time. There's no rush." Jack could feel his heart slowing down slightly. How did Coulson calm people down like that? It seemed like a super power.

"Is Lincoln...?"

"I'm fine," Lincoln answered, his face coming into view opposite Coulson's. Then Skye was bending over him too.

"What are you feeling, Jack?" she asked.

"Do you think you can sit up?" Lincoln asked. "Take my hand." He held Jack's hand and there was a flash of light and he was flung off the bed, hitting the glass and sliding down to the floor.

Jack gasped. Coulson and Skye froze. "Lincoln?" Skye asked without taking her eyes off Jack.

"Yeah, I'm fine. No, I'm okay." Lincoln said getting to his feet. "Wasn't expecting that."

"Was that you?" Skye asked. Lincoln didn't answer.

"No," Jack wailed. "I think it was me. What's happening to me?"

"It's okay, Jack," Coulson said. "I think you seem to have taken on a bit of Lincoln's power."

"I have?!" Jack sat up – suddenly excited. Coulson and Skye stepped back.

"More than a bit," Lincoln said rubbing the back of his head. "That was quite a wallop."

"But you still have your gift? Lincoln?" Skye asked.

"Yes," Lincoln said as he conjured up a ball of blinding light in the palm of his hand.

Jack looked at his hand and focused. There was a spark first. Then small streaks of light that leapt madly out of his palm before bending themselves into a ball. But as they watched the ball grew smaller and dimmer and then fizzed out.

"It's gone," Jack said, his spirits sinking. "I'm back to normal." He looked around at the awe struck humans and realised how odd that must have sounded to them.

"What you can do is amazing," Lincoln said extinguishing the light in his palm.

"Thanks," Jack said dejectedly.

After that Jack couldn't go anywhere and not be noticed. He'd been tested again too and indexed. He'd healed a small cut on Skye's hand and for less than a minute he could make the water in his cup dance. But unless he healed a powered person he couldn't borrow their gift.

After that things got a bit dull for Jack. Although people at the base knew who he was now, no one made a move to talk to him – except the people he already knew, even though they were busy. For instance, May had lunch with him (a very quiet lunch) and asked him to help move some boxes onto one of the quinjets, (even though he knew she could easily have done it herself).

"Could you teach me a move to make if someone bigger than me was trying to punch me? Or would that take years of training to get right?" Jack asked. He never expected May to even bother replying but she did. She showed him how to duck and sweep his foot, hook it behind his opponent's knee and knock him flat out.

"Try it," she said faking a blow. Jack ducked and kicked, knocking her onto the ground. She was on her feet before he could regain his balance.

"Awesome," Jack said. "You're awesome. And I have a lot to learn."

"Mm-hm," May said and Jack wondered whether there was just the flicker of a smile on her lips.

"Thanks," he said a little awkwardly. May didn't say anything so he turned to leave.

"Hey," she said and he stopped. "I never thanked you for saving Coulson's life."

"Oh," Jack didn't know how to respond to that. 'You're welcome' sounded lame. "Er... sure." He wished he could say cool things like they did.

"Thank you. I appreciate it. And if I ever get the chance, I'll return the favour." May said.

Jack was in awe. That was more than she'd said all through lunch! He grinned and this time she returned his smile.

Then Jemma turned up to show him some new discovery she'd made but he didn't understand it and when Fitz showed up and they started talking about it together he slipped out before Jemma decided to give him another lesson in anatomy.

The next day started off at a snail's pace but picked up when Coulson came looking for him.

"Jack, we've found your father," Coulson said. "And he's asking for you."

Jack almost choked on his soda. Skye and May were with him and they looked serious. They also, Jack noticed, wore bulletproof vests.

"He's taken some people hostage in a cafe and he says he won't release them until we hand you over to him."

"Okay," Jack said, getting slowly to his feet. "Did he say why he wants me? Because the last time we met he wanted to kill me."

"He's not saying anything, except that if we don't give you up to him within the hour he's going to start shooting hostages," Coulson said.

That spurred Jack into action. He was aware that Coulson, May and Skye were all watching him closely, trying to gage how terrified the news might have made him. "Good thing I don't have to suit up then," he said lightly – rather pleased at this quip.

"Then let's go," May said.

"We're coming with you, Jack," Skye said.

"Thanks, but I'm guessing my father will want to see me alone," Jack said as they walked swiftly towards the hangar.

"Probably, but if that's the case we'll be right outside," Coulson said. "And Jack, you're not an Agent. You don't have to do this."

"If I don't people will get killed," Jack said.

"People might get killed anyway," Coulson said. "Hank isn't thinking rationally."

"That's putting it mildly." Jack murmured to himself.

"But if you do decide to go you might be able to defuse the situation a little," Skye said. "You're his son. Deep down he must love you."

"I think he has a replacement son now," Jack said wryly. "Is my friend Kaycee with him? They were trying to kill me when Fitz came to get me. And they were taking their time over it."

"Yes, there is a boy with him," Coulson said. "Like I said, Jack. You don't have to do this."

Jack stopped. "Yes, I do. Healing people, saving lives... it's my thing now. I have to do this." He resumed walking. "Besides, there's nothing he can do to me that I can't get better from..."

May and Coulson exchanged quick glances but said nothing. It got Jack thinking.

"Except maybe... if he blew me up?" Jack wondered out loud. They'd got to the plane by then. There was a team of other Shield Agents waiting to board, including Fitz and Hunter. "Would I get back together again? Or if he cut off my head and threw it in the sea..."

"Jack," Coulson said.

"Sorry, just thinking out loud," Jack said. For some reason he wasn't scared. He felt exhilarated. Almost giddy. "Let's do this." He smiled at Coulson.

Coulson smiled back. "Okay," he said laying a hand on Jack's shoulder. "For what it's worth I'm proud of you."

"And one last thing," May said. "If you feel like sweep-kicking anyone? Just let me know and I'll knock them out for you. You can try it out yourself when you've had time to practice – okay?"

Jack nodded, his eyes shining. He didn't trust himself to speak just then.

May and Coulson headed into the plane with the other agents giving them last minute instructions. Everyone around him was big and lethal but right then Jack felt as though he was ten feet tall.

By the time they drove up to a cafe type diner in a crowded part of the city Jack was less giddy but just as determined. It was 5 pm and the rush-hour crowds had been evacuated. Local law enforcement was guarding the two exits and covering all the windows.

"There are six hostages in there, still," the police chief told Coulson. "Two elderly women, a mother and her five year old daughter, the manager and the waiter. The chef managed to get out and call us. We haven't heard any gun shots so we're assuming no one's dead. He won't talk to us. Says he'll only talk to Coulson."

"I'm Director Coulson. We'll take it from here Chief Hendrix. Thanks for your help."

"Good luck, Director," The Chief replied. "I think you're going to need it," he said over his shoulder as he patted a smashed up white sedan and he walked away.

As soon as his agents were in place Coulson picked up the phone and called Hank.

"Hank, I've got your son here. I'll deliver him to you as soon as you let those people go. They're not part of this."

"Why would I do that Phil?" Hank responded. "I'd have nothing to bargain with."

"What do you want Hank?" Coulson asked looking around to make sure his people were in place around the cafe.

"What do I want? Why just the thrill of seeing my son again. Send him over Phil. The door's unlocked."

"I can't do that Hank," Colson replied sounding sorry. "You've got to give me something to work with. How about releasing the female hostages?"

"I'll tell you what?" Hank replied. "Let's swap. I've got six hostages here. You bring the boy and four other agents with you. That way I still have my bargaining chips and you get your hostages out of the way. Deal?"

"He's planning something," Skye said rather unnecessarily, Jack thought.

"Seems like it," Coulson agreed.

"You can't come with me," Jack said. "He's not going to let you leave alive."

Keeping his eyes on the cafe, Coulson smiled. "You said it yourself Jack. Saving lives – that's kind of our thing."

Taking the phone off mute Coulson spoke to Hank. "You have a deal Hank. Open the door and let the hostages out." The door creaked open in the pin drop silence that followed. Two old ladies came rushing out. One was in tears. A group of agents whisked them away to safety."

"Your turn, Phil," Hank replied. "I'll release the others once the six of you are at the door."

May, Skye, Fitz and Hunter rallied around Coulson and Jack.

"You're not cleared for active duty, Hunter," Coulson said. "I'm going to need someone who's..."

"Not a problem," Hunter said. He held out a fist to Jack and raised an eyebrow.

Jack stifled a grin and placed his hand on Hunter's wrist. The healing was swift and comparatively painless.

"Done," Hunter said.

"Done," Jack confirmed a few seconds later.

"All right," Coulson put the phone to his ear. "We're coming in Hank."

"Lose the weapons Phil," Hank's voice grated.

Jack watched as his friends put down their guns. For the first time that day he began to feel apprehensive – but for his friends' sake, rather than his own. Skye seemed to read his mind.

"Don't worry, Jack," she winked at him. "You distract him, we'll do the rest."

Would Skye be able to disarm his father? What was he planning? And what about Kaycee? Jack pushed aside his questions as they approached the door.

The four hostages came rushing out. The mother looked pityingly at Jack – something in her eyes reminded him of his own mother – then she pulled her daughter closer to her and they were gone.

May went in first, then Jack with Coulson, swiftly followed by the others.

The door shut behind Fitz.

"Come in, come in," Hank said expansively. Kaycee sat at the counter with a look of joyous anticipation on his face. It was a small space and the six of them were forced to stand quite close to Hank.

"Naughty-naughty, Phil," Hank said wagging a pudgy finger. "Did you think you could trick me by bringing in one of my own kind masquerading as an agent?"

He was looking directly at Skye and Jack's heart almost stopped. He knew! They'd just lost their element of surprise.

"Oh yes, I fooled Gordon into telling me quite a lot about the inhabitants of Afterlife," Hank grinned.

Skye put up her hands in readiness but waited for a lead from Coulson.

"Skye is an agent, Hank," Coulson said evenly. If he was taken aback it didn't show. "You didn't specify that the agents I bring in should not have powers."

"Always the clever one Phil," Hank sniggered but he made no threatening moves. "You know Rita used to love you. Yeah, she did. But then she got tired of you and your empty words. That's all you ever were – empty words. Now me, I'm a man of action. The ladies love that."

And before anyone could blink he'd stabbed May, who was standing closest to him, with a purple crystal. There was a flash of purple light but before it could spread Jack leapt forward and wrapped his arms around May absorbing the light so that it didn't reach the others in the room.

"No!" Skye screamed hitting Hank on the head with a blast of energy that knocked him out and threw him against the far wall. Kaycee leapt to his feet too but Hunter iced him with a gun he'd hidden in his boot.

Then they all stared in horror at May who was slowly turning to ash from the crystal's point of entry in her ribs. May gritted her teeth stoically. She tried to say something but her jaws wouldn't move.

"You promised to kick him for me," Jack said urgently to May. "You've got to fight it."

He tightened his grip as the ashy blackness crept over her whole body. Only her face was free of it. He focused hard willing the blackness back but it moved on relentlessly until she was just an ashy statue.

"Let go Jack," Skye said in a shaky voice. "It's too late."

"No." Jack said his jaw set. "No!"

"Jack!" Coulson took a step forward as the blackness rushed greedily towards Jack's hand.

"Keep them back," Jack told Skye. Beads of sweat formed on his brow, trickling down the side of his face.

"It's okay," Skye told the others. "He's like me. The mist doesn't affect us anymore. He'll be all..." She broke off in shock as the blackness ran along Jack's arms and face, covering him from head to toe.

"What's happening Skye?" Coulson asked urgently.

"I... I don't know." Skye replied. "This is not supposed to happen. We're immune..." 

"Could it be because Jack is trying to heal May?" Fitz asked. "He's taken on her injuries – the stab wound. That kind of makes him human. Maybe that's why the terrigen thing can cover him too." 

"So will this change him a second time?" Hunter asked. "And what will it do to May?"

"_If_ she gets out alive," Hank said sitting up. Skye was about to zap him again but Coulson raised a hand and stopped her.

"This is what you planned?" Coulson asked, his voice steely.

"This is exactly what I planned," Hank gloated, getting to his feet. "When Gordon told me about the stash of crystals I had to get another for my son. The first time was a mistake. I mean – healing! What kind of a sissy power is that?"

Coulson dropped his hand and Skye zapped Hank.

"Skye – will you check him for more of those crystals? And the boy too."

"On it," Skye said.

"Hunter, get more agents to secure these two," he said. Hunter nodded and went outside.

"They're clean," Skye announced.

"I hope you're right Fitz," Coulson said. "I didn't see this coming."

"Yeah, he knew Jack would try and stop the effects of the crystal," Fitz said. "And that it would make him human or semi-human or whatever. Gemma will know."

Hunter returned with four agents and some of their weapons.

"I'm just worried about what it will do to him," Coulson said. "May would be the first to tell you, the mists drive some people insane. Especially children it would seem." They looked at Kaycee who was sprawled on the counter with his mouth open.

"If it does?" Fitz asked.

Coulson didn't answer. He took his gun and checked that it was loaded.

"Something's happening boss," Hunter said. There was a tremor in the eerie ashy tableau before them.

With great reluctance Coulson pointed the gun at Jack. Hunter hesitated for a moment before following suit. Fitz and Skye exchanged glances and did the same.

"Wait! Wait!" Hank had come to again. He was secured in a straight jacket and struggled against the agents who were trying to take him outside. "This is it!" he shouted exuberantly.

And the ashy crust began crumbling. The team watched anxiously. It first fell off of Jack. He shook the ash out of his shock of black hair blinking around him looking disoriented. He stepped back from May and suddenly realised that she was still a statue.

"No!" he shouted banging his fist against the black statue. "Agent May!"

"Easy Jack," Coulson said, but this time his words had no effect on Jack.

"No!" Jack screamed.

"Jack! Son!" Hank struggled with his bonds. "Do you feel any different? Do you?"

"Get him out of here!" Coulson snarled. Hank was making the boy angry and Coulson didn't think that was a good thing so soon after his latest transformation.

But as the agents struggled to contain Hank, Jack narrowed his eyes. A look of pure hatred crossed his features.

"You." He said, stretching his hand out to his father. "I. Hate. You." He folded his fingers into a fist and as he did so the skin on Hank's face folded in over his eyes, nose and mouth. The big man began kicking and struggling for air.

"I hate you!" Jack screamed.

"Jack," Coulson stepped between Jack and his father. "Look at me. You don't want to do this."

"Yes, I do." Jack said pushing Coulson away. "Get out of my way. I'm going to finish this now. He's not going to hurt anyone again."

"Killing your father, no matter what kind of a monster you might think he is, is going to be a burden that will drive you insane," Coulson said standing his ground.

"No." Jack's eyes were blazing. "He drives me insane. Someone has to stop him. And now I can. Now get out of my way."

"I can't let you do this Jack," Coulson said.

"Don't make me hurt you," the veins stood out on Jack's neck and forehead as he battled to control his anger.

Coulson held up a warning hand to stop the others from taking Jack out.

"This is not you Jack," Coulson said even as the flesh around his face began to stretch and mush into a knot.

"Jack! No!" Skye ordered. She put up her hands to zap him but Jack twisted her from the waist so that the energy blast hit his father and the four agents, knocking them back against the wall.

Skye turned back to strike Jack again and realised in horror that her fingers were melding together. She couldn't use her power without hurting herself.

Hunter and Fitz managed to shoot one round of icers into Jack before their hands fused around their weapons. The icers had no effect on the boy.

"Don't do this Jack," Fitz said and there were tears in his eyes.

"You're not a killer Jack," Coulson said – his voice muffled as the flesh folded over his nose and mouth. Only one of his eyes could be seen and he fixed that eye on Jack. "This is not you. Find another way. Make me proud."

Jack felt like someone had poured a pail of cold water over him. He blinked and looked around at what he had done.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, leaning against a table because his legs felt wobbly. "I'm so sorry." Coulson's face returned to normal in seconds followed by the others' hands. Jack, his head drooping, reached out in the direction of his father who was still kicking and gasping for air. Slowly Hank's features reappeared and he got unsteadily to his feet.

"That's my boy," Hank said. "You took on a whole room full of agents. Did you realise that? You didn't even need to think. Come on son. Let's leave these losers. This was the legacy I wanted for you." He picked up two of the comatose agents and flung them away from him.

Jack raised his head and got to his feet. His face was wet with tears and sweat.

"I will never join you," Jack said. "You make me sick. You've made me a monster like you. And I will never forgive you for it."

Hank roared in anger and banged his fist on a wooden table, breaking it into pieces. He picked up the leg of the table and threw it at Jack like a javelin. Jack just stood there and watched the spear rip into his chest.

Coulson and the others were firing a hail of bullets at Hank but he was ready for them. Tearing the metal door off of the refrigerator he used it as a shield and tried to make it out of the cafe. But this time Skye wasn't going to let him win. She forced the metal door to wrap itself around Hank, pinning his arms down and forcing him to the ground.

Coulson was at Jack's side in moments.

"Come on Jack," he said easing the wooden spike out of the boy. "It's time to do your thing. Time to heal. Come on!"

Jack smiled wearily. "No," he said. "I'd rather die than be a monster."

"You're not a monster, Jack!" Coulson said.

"I almost..." Jack coughed and spat blood out of his mouth.

"But you didn't," Coulson said. "And that's what defines you. It's what defines any of us. The choices we make. You chose not to kill."

"Nothing good..." Jack rasped his breaths coming in raggedy gasps.

"We need you, Jack," Coulson said, trying to guess what was going on in the boy's mind. "You can do a lot of good. Just heal yourself. That's an order!"

Jack tried to smile. "Not... agent... yet." He managed to say. Then the gurgling, rasping sound in Jack's chest stopped. He closed his eyes.

"Jack!" Skye shouted.

"Come on Jack," Fitz murmured over and over to himself.

Coulson who had been bending over Jack sat back on his heels. He wiped his forehead with the back of his wrist careful not to get blood on his face. Then he turned and smiled at the others. "He's going to make it."

And they stood around Jack marvelling at how the gaping hole in his chest stopped pulsing out blood and slowly closed itself.

"Er... guys?" Hunter said. He was standing closest to May. There was a crack in the black crust. Everybody froze. The crust began to crumble.

Then Skye actually squealed. The ashes were falling off of May. She was alive. She held a table to steady herself.

"Are you all right?" Skye and Coulson asked in unison.

May coughed and nodded, looking around at the smiling relieved faces around her. She saw Jack on the ground and frowned.

"He's doing his thing May," Coulson said suddenly weary. "He's going to be okay."

May squatted next to Coulson just as Jack opened his eyes.

"I guess I was wrong," she told Jack hoarsely. "I guess you don't need my help. You can be awesome on your own."

-0-0-0-

Six months later Doctor August Winslow changed the 'closed' sign on his veterinary practice to 'open.'

"Come in, come in!" he said to his first customers. "And how is Sheba today?" Sheba the Great Dane and his small master walked in happily.

Rick waited till they'd gone into the doctor's office and carried the trash out. He put it into the big bin by the curb. Just then a cherry red 1962 Chevrolet Corvette drove up and stopped next to the boy.

"Hello Rick!" Coulson called out.

"Hey, Ricky boy! What's up?" Skye grinned.

The boy grinned. "Hey yourselves," he said. "Come to check up on me?"

"Of course," Skye said slipping easily out of the car. "Can't have our favourite young Agent-in-training running around unsupervised now can we Director Coulson?"

"Certainly not," Coulson said sternly.

Rick snorted. "I'm not an Agent. Yet."

Coulson grinned at Rick and clapped him on the shoulder with his good arm. "But you are on a mission. How are things?"

"Pretty all right actually," Rick said. "Hasn't lost his temper even once since we started this. Hasn't been recognised by anyone from his old life. Cooks a mean Sichuan chicken too. All in all, he makes a pretty awesome dad."

"Careful," Skye said, "You're making me jealous."

Rick knew she was only half joking. Coulson did too.

"This was the best plan Skye," Coulson said. "Your dad gets someone to care for and keep him focused and Jack gets a dad – and a mission."

"You mean Rick," Skye said.

"That's right Daisy," Coulson said and got a light punch on the shoulder from Skye.

"So you're doing okay then?" Coulson asked Jack.

But they were interrupted.

"Ricky!" It was Doctor Winslow. "Oh, sorry. I didn't realise you had er..." He got a little distracted.

"You remember Principal Coulson don't you Dad?" Rick asked.

"Yes, of course," Dr Winslow said. "Er... have we met before?" He asked Skye. "You seem very familiar."

"Yes, we have," Skye smiled at him. "I was passing by the first day you opened your clinic."

"Ah yes, Daisy right?" Dr Winslow asked. "Pretty name."

Skye beamed at him. "That's right."

"Are you part of Rick's school?"

"Yes, she's a substitute teacher," Rick said before Skye could reply. "Teaches uh... humming. I mean singing."

Skye glared at Jack and he smiled disarmingly back.

"We were just passing by when we saw Rick," Coulson said smoothly. "I've been away from the school for a few weeks so I thought I'd check up on him. Sounds like you need him at the clinic?"

"Yes, my assistant has Saturdays off so Rick helps out," Dr Winslow said, clapping Rick on the shoulder. "He has a real talent for this job."

"I bet he does," Skye said trying to keep a straight face.

"We'll let you get back to your work," Coulson said sliding into the driver's seat. "See you at school Rick."

Rick and his father waved and walked back to the clinic.

"They seem nice," Dr Winslow said as the two of them walked back to the clinic.

"Mm-hm." Jack said, looking back to catch a glimpse of the corvette turning a corner. "They're all right."


End file.
